1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to packaging, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an improved card display package and method of manufacturing same.
2. Description of Related Art
Membership or identification cards distributed by businesses and organizations are typically forwarded to individuals by mailing the cards to the individual after the cards have been prepared. These cards are often used to provide authorization for the rental or purchase of goods and services or used as a gift certificate by granting the holder credit for various goods and services. It is common practice to forward such cards to customers in the mail by attaching the cards to a sheet of material, know as a carrier, and inserting the carrier and attached card into an envelope.
The carrier functions to hold the card within the envelope and provides a space for displaying additional information, such as a customer's name and address, company logos, instructions for the use of the card and promotional information related to the establishment distributing the card. The use of a carrier requires a multiple step process to prepare the card and carrier for mailing. First, the card is provided with certain non-variable information such as company logos, instructions, and promotional information. The card is also provided with certain unique customer information such as a customer's name and address or other personal information.
The carrier is prepared by cutting the carrier to the designated size, typically letter size, and then providing the carrier with the variable data which will include the customer's name and mailing address, possibly instructions for the use of the card and promotional information related to the establishment distributing the card. The carrier must then be correctly matched with the corresponding card which has been separately prepared. Once the carrier and the card are correctly matched, the card is attached to the carrier normally with an adhesive or by inserting the card into a plurality of slits formed in the carrier. The card and carrier are then inserted into an envelope which is sealed and mailed or otherwise delivered to the customer.
In many instances, it is necessary to attach a second card to the carrier. This requires the preparation of another card, matching the second card with the carrier and attaching the second card to the carrier. Furthermore, the weight of the contents in the envelope are increased and thus the mailing costs are increased.
As a result of the complexity and relatively high cost of preparing and delivering an identification card or membership card to a customer, a need exists for an improved card package that is durable and easy to handle and a method of preparing the card package for delivering the card to a customer which requires fewer production steps and results in reduced material and mailing costs.
In addition to or in lieu of mailing cards to customers, the purchase and usage of debit cards has continued to increase in recent years to the point that the sale of debit cards today is a multi-billion dollar industry. Often debit cards are printed and issued with a predetermined balance and typically sold as a retail item. An example of such a card is a prepaid calling card which provides an individual with a set dollar amount of long distance telephone calls. The account is accessed and debited by using an account number provided on the calling card.
A problem experienced in the sale of such debit cards is that merchants buying these cards are subsequently more exposed to loss through shrinkage and theft. In addition, the merchant must maintain inventory stock of different values of these debit cards well in advance of when the debit cards are actually sold as a retail item, thus restricting working capital.
With these problems in mind, merchants have begun to display non-activated (zero balance) debit cards whereby the merchant no longer has a large initial expenditure since the non-activated debit cards have no initial intrinsic value, and thus, theft is no longer a concern since the non-activated debit cards have very little value. Upon purchase of the debit card, the merchant encodes the debit card with a balance representing an amount a consumer wishes to attribute to the debit card.
In light of the fact that the consumer must have the card encoded after the card is purchased, it is desirable to the merchant to be able to encode the card without having to first remove the card from packaging in which the card is displayed. It is to such an improved card package that the present invention is directed.